TRADE EVENTS

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced Japan's total housing starts for April 2015 at a level of 75,617 units, a 0.4% increase compared to April 2014. Year on year starts of single-family dwellings decreased 4.1% to 33,720 units, while row houses and multi-family dwellings increased 6.6% to 8,992 units and 3.8% to 32,905 units, respectively. Year on year 2x4 and prefabricated housing starts increased by 5.5% to 9,384 units and 1.4% to 10,881 units, respectively. Seasonally adjusted housing starts on an annual basis decreased 0.7% to 913,272 units in April 2015, as compared to March 2015.

Total imports of building products to Japan for the three-month period from January to March 2015 decreased 2.8% to 356.3 billion yen (about US$2.89 billion at 123.40 yen/US$), compared to 366.5 billion yen (about US $3.47 billion at 105.74 yen/US$) for the same period in 2014. Imports from the United States decreased 9.5% to 26.0 billion yen (US$210.85 million) from January to March 2015, compared to 28.8 billion yen (US$271.95 million) in the same period in 2014.